Problem: Job 1:1 states, “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.” However, Romans 3:23 states that all have fallen short of God’s moral perfection.
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Problem: The book of Esther records, “So the king’s scribes were called… and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, the satraps, the governors and the princes of the provinces… He wrote in the name of King [Xerxes], and sealed it with the king’s signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horses, riding on steeds sired by the royal stud. 11 In them the king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives, to destroy, to kill and to annihilate the entire army of any people or province which might attack them, including children and women, and to plunder their spoil” (Esther 8:9-11). Does this mean that God commanded genocide?
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Problem: Esther “pleased him and found favor with him. So he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and food, gave her seven choice maids from the king’s palace and transferred her and her maids to the best place in the harem” (Esther 2:9). Did Esther use sex to advance into the king’s harem?
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Problem: In the record of those who returned to Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel as recorded in Ezra, there are 32 family units identified and numbered. In 18 of these instances, the numbers in Ezra are exactly the same as those found in Nehemiah 7. However, in 14 instances, the numbers differ. The difference ranges from as little as one to as much as 1,100. Why are these numbers different?
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Why are the statistics in Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7 different? Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7 are listings of numbered people from different families. The chapters represent the statistics of the same families, but they are not identical. I have produced a grid below that lists the families that do not match. If you would like to see the grid comparing all families in Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7, go here.

Of 39 entries (verses), 17 do not match. They are listed below.

It is obvious from the above table, that there were many statistical differences between Ezra and Nehemiah. Though most of them are identical, some do not match. Why? The answer is simple.

Ezra was written no later than 450 B.C.1 Nehemiah should be dated during the reign of Artexerxes [1] (464-423 B.C.).[2] According to the book, “Talk Thru the Bible,” Ezra was written about 538-516 B.C.[3] where Nehemiah was written around 444-425 B.C.[4] Therefore, the dates of writing are different and the statistical differences can easily be accounted for by considering that during the difference of years, people died, families grew, etc.

I must note that there is a small percentage of copyist errors in numbers throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. It is certainly possible that some of the numbers differ due to copyist mistakes. Nevertheless, the difference in dates of writing can certainly account for the difference in numbers.

References
[1] Harrison, R. K., Introduction to the Old Testament, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1969, p. 1143.
[2] Harrison, p. 1146.
[3] Wilkinson, Bruce, and Kenneth Boa, Talk Thru the Bible, New York: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1983, p. 116.
[4]4 Ibid., p. 123.

There are at least three possibilities:

First, numbers were difficult for the Hebrew scribes to write accurately. Therefore, it is possible that this is a copyist error (see comments on Exodus 12:37).

Second, it is also possible that they wrote their lists at different times. Remember, Nehemiah began his ministry twelve years after Ezra. He could be describing a different wave of return to Israel. Historically, the Jews were deported from Israel in three separate waves; it is possible that they returned to Israel in multiple waves.

Third, it is also possible that Ezra recorded WHO LEFT and Nehemiah was recording WHO MADE IT. Consider, for example, if Ezra was just recording who left, and many family members joined up with them on their way to Israel. Others died. Thus these two figures would be different from one another.

Problem: God says, “I hate divorce” (Mal. 2:16). Paul writes, “If any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her” (1 Cor. 7:12). However, in this passage, many men divorced their wives, and they even sent their children away too (v.44). How can this be morally justified?
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So far, in the book of Ezra, the book has been in the third person. Here, it switches to the third. This is probably the case because Ezra (the author) enters the story at this point. Much like the “we” passages of Luke, Ezra writes from the first person, because he is directly involved at this point in the narrative (where he hadn’t been before).

Problem: A number of observations can be made:
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Problem: Weren’t converts permitted to enter Judaism in the OT? While the Jews did not go out to seek converts, they certainly let them in. Why, then, do the people of Israel turn these men away?
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